Packers vs Browns Game Thread: If its Brown flush it down edition

[rmontro]

Ok, well those are called adjustments and I'm sure adjustments will be made. And yeah, when you're missing your 2 best tackles against a top 5 DL, your OL is always going to struggle. As for the stupid penalties, the holding and PI in the last 5 minutes were both complete bull ****.

One thing is as sure as the rising and setting of the sun: The Packers OL is going to be injured.

Anyway, I suppose it's hard not to have a letdown after playing two nearly perfect games.

 

[milani]

It sounds like you were expecting us to be 20-0 this season or something.

Not at all. In fact I could see us losing one or both games to Detroit and Washington. But not Cleveland. This would be like the Chiefs blowing one to the Giants. To make up for this loss we would need to reverse one of the expected losses like to Philly or Baltimore or Detroit again.

 

[melvin dangerr]

Ok, well those are called adjustments and I'm sure adjustments will be made. And yeah, when you're missing your 2 best tackles against a top 5 DL, your OL is always going to struggle. As for the stupid penalties, the holding and PI in the last 5 minutes were both complete bull ****.

I understand the oline is hit with injuries that hurt the Packers but 14 penalties doesn’t make winning any easier

 

[Heyjoe4]

One thing is as sure as the rising and setting of the sun: The Packers OL is going to be injured.

Anyway, I suppose it's hard not to have a letdown after playing two nearly perfect games.

That's a good way to look at it.

The Packers, as a team, were just not prepared for a defensive/STs fight. It didn't help that Love reverted back to the same mistake he's made the last two years - panicking and throwing costly INTs on the wrong side of the field - when the pressure is high. I can deal with the L, but can't deal with Love's failure to progress past really these bad throws. I thought he'd correct that tendency after it happened once. But it's not going away, and as talented as Love is, it's a concern.

The other concern is MLF insisting on running Jacobs into an 8-man box. It doesn't work, try something else!

 

[Heyjoe4]

Not at all. In fact I could see us losing one or both games to Detroit and Washington. But not Cleveland. This would be like the Chiefs blowing one to the Giants. To make up for this loss we would need to reverse one of the expected losses like to Philly or Baltimore or Detroit again.

That's well said. Great teams win these matchups. The Packers as a team were flat yesterday, other than the D which continues to amaze.

But Love keeps making the same bad throw on the wrong side of the field while under pressure. STs is not special. And MLF, please stop running Jacobs into 8-man boxes.

The Packers have a wealth of talent. But the coaches and players don't seem to learn from mistakes. And giving credit where it's due, the Cleveland defense is v good.

That said, if I knew Cleveland was gonna score 13 points (or any opponent), I would have assumed a win. Another example of "first thought wrong".

 

[Heyjoe4]

For the first time in my life, I'm embarrassed to be a Packer fan. This is the most shameful performance of Packers football I have ever seen, and it's not particularly close. Absolutely pathetic.

It was hard to take gonzo, agreed, but the team has indeed played worse. The NFCCG loss to Seattle comes to mind.

But yesterday was a tough one. Holding an opponent to 13 points should ensure a win. Cleveland does have a legit, top 5 defense. We all know the mistakes that were made by Love and STs, but even those mistakes should not have prevented a win. All the Packers needed was 14 points.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Our O line is sub par. 3 games in and teams know how to stop the run. MLF still is too stubborn to put a FB or a TE in the backfield. 1st and 10 at the 21 and unless you are kneeling you need some punch. A shorter FG is harder to block. And even on our TD we were stuffed twice before Love made a rollout TD. Then we even botched the tush play.

Yeah it was pretty ugly. And I think your comment on the OL is fair. Easy to say now, but Tom needed another week off. It's just embarrassing to give up only 13 points and lose.

 

[gopkrs]

That's well said. Great teams win these matchups. The Packers as a team were flat yesterday, other than the D which continues to amaze.

But Love keeps making the same bad throw on the wrong side of the field while under pressure. STs is not special. And MLF, please stop running Jacobs into 8-man boxes.

The Packers have a wealth of talent. But the coaches and players don't seem to learn from mistakes. And giving credit where it's due, the Cleveland defense is v good.

That said, if I knew Cleveland was gonna score 13 points (or any opponent), I would have assumed a win. Another example of "first thought wrong".

I agree The Pack were flat yesterday. I only felt the intensity on the first goal line stand. The D had very good stats but the Browns are a bad offensive team. I really didn't see the swarming by everyone like in the first two games. And there were some badly missed tackles yesterday.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I agree The Pack were flat yesterday. I only felt the intensity on the first goal line stand. The D had very good stats but the Browns are a bad offensive team. I really didn't see the swarming by everyone like in the first two games. And there were some badly missed tackles yesterday.

The D played very well, but yeah the energy and "swarming" were lacking.

Even so, a team should win when they only give up 13 points. I have no idea why they weren't better prepared. And I have no idea why MLF insists on running Jacobs into 8-man boxes.

A big win in Big D will help.

 

[gopkrs]

The D played very well, but yeah the energy and "swarming" were lacking.

Even so, a team should win when they only give up 13 points. I have no idea why they ween't better prepared. And I have no idea why MLF insists on running Jacobs into 8-man boxes.

A big win in Big D will help.

I think the energy and swarming are indicative of a defense on a mission. They really should be like that on every play. imo

 

[Magooch]

Another thing that I find awfully concerning....I believe we are on our 3rd ST coordinator under LaFleur now? And for all the positives or improvements it always feels like two steps forward, one step back (at best). 6+ years and 3 coordinators in and it feels like I still cannot be remotely confident in us turning in a complete solid ST performance. I'm not even talking about being a dominant team on ST but just even being consistently average would be great for us...

It seems like no matter what we do, there is always one facet of ST that cannot help but sh*t its pants in crunch time. Like, let's say you broadly split ST into kickoff returns, kickoff coverage, placekicking/FG teams, FG blocking/defense, punt returns, and punt coverage. It feels like in any given game, maybe we will get four of them playing well together. MAYBE five if we are lucky. But one or two are always going to at least do something that makes everyone nervous, if not screw us over outright... And it's not always the same ones causing the problems, but it feels like there always IS one causing problems, lol

 

[pacmaniac]

Bisaccia is also the highest paid ST coordinator in the league, and he's not doing enough to justify that.

 

[rmontro]

The other concern is MLF insisting on running Jacobs into an 8-man box. It doesn't work, try something else!

Heh, my girlfriend is always complaining about that. I tell her we're just softening them up. But damn, we know Jacobs is a great running back, we should be giving him something better. Right now he's averaging 60 yards a game and 3.1 yards a carry. Something is wrong here. I guess playing the Lions and Browns is a tough metric though.

 

[milani]

Another thing that I find awfully concerning....I believe we are on our 3rd ST coordinator under LaFleur now? And for all the positives or improvements it always feels like two steps forward, one step back (at best). 6+ years and 3 coordinators in and it feels like I still cannot be remotely confident in us turning in a complete solid ST performance. I'm not even talking about being a dominant team on ST but just even being consistently average would be great for us...

It seems like no matter what we do, there is always one facet of ST that cannot help but sh*t its pants in crunch time. Like, let's say you broadly split ST into kickoff returns, kickoff coverage, placekicking/FG teams, FG blocking/defense, punt returns, and punt coverage. It feels like in any given game, maybe we will get four of them playing well together. MAYBE five if we are lucky. But one or two are always going to at least do something that makes everyone nervous, if not screw us over outright... And it's not always the same ones causing the problems, but it feels like there always IS one causing problems, lol

Special teams can appear improved from what it was before this regime. But that was because it was absolutely horrific then, that it could not get worse. There were 3 blocked FGs in the NFL yesterday that occurred with 10 minutes on televised NFL coverage. Maybe a hex. But blocking a placekick in today's NFL should be extremely rare. Although, we botched a golden opportunity with 1st down at the 21 yard line to get into chip shot range there was no reason to get the kick COMPLETELY blocked. If McManus misses the FG the Browns get the ball at the 33 instead of near midfield and maybe the game only goes to OT. Failure to kick the apparent winning FG was just as bad or even worse than the Love INT.

 

[Magooch]

I'm curious about the kicking lineup too. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but on our made FG I believe it was Fitzpatrick in at TE on the left and we made that one. Now to be fair as I said elsewhere I thought it was Morgan's man (Harris) not Kraft's who made the block, but Kraft definitely got cooked there and that couldn't have helped things. All that to say, perhaps I have missed it but anyone have any indication why the switch there from Fitzpatrick to Kraft?

 

[milani]

I'm curious about the kicking lineup too. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but on our made FG I believe it was Fitzpatrick in at TE on the left and we made that one. Now to be fair as I said elsewhere I thought it was Morgan's man (Harris) not Kraft's who made the block, but Kraft definitely got cooked there and that couldn't have helped things. All that to say, perhaps I have missed it but anyone have any indication why the switch there from Fitzpatrick to Kraft?

Interesting. I do not know if Biasaccia has done that before. Before the FG I believe that in the running formations both TEs were on the field. So it was not a matter of one being fatigued.
In Crosby's last years we know how costly blocked FGs were. It happened in the 13-10 loss to Frisco in 2021. It happened in a 13-10 loss in KC in a game that Love had to start. It happened in the Jets game in Rodgers last year. None of the kicks were long. Biasaccia was brought here to fix this. It was a challenge to get a placekicker who can consistently make makeable kicks. Blocking for that kicker should not be an issue.

 

[OldSchool101]

Interesting. I do not know if Biasaccia has done that before. Before the FG I believe that in the running formations both TEs were on the field. So it was not a matter of one being fatigued.
In Crosby's last years we know how costly blocked FGs were. It happened in the 13-10 loss to Frisco in 2021. It happened in a 13-10 loss in KC in a game that Love had to start. It happened in the Jets game in Rodgers last year. None of the kicks were long. Biasaccia was brought here to fix this. It was a challenge to get a placekicker who can consistently make makeable kicks. Blocking for that kicker should not be an issue.

I don’t know what fix to employ to prevent blocked FG’s, but Rich had better figure it out and soon. Don’t think for a second our opponents aren’t studying every inch of the film and where we’re inadequate.

 

[rmontro]

I don’t know what fix to employ to prevent blocked FG’s, but Rich had better figure it out and soon. Don’t think for a second our opponents aren’t studying every inch of the film and where we’re inadequate.

Just when you think we've put our long suffering special teams problems behind us.

 

[OldSchool101]

Just when you think we've put our long suffering special teams problems behind us.

The only good thing is it’s early season and it’s a pretty glaring defect. Didn’t he go through this with Mason? Remember when we were having similar issues in 2021 or 2022? I seem to remember this exact same issue.

 

[BrokenArrow]

I understand the oline is hit with injuries that hurt the Packers but 14 penalties doesn’t make winning any easier

Like I said. The ones that benefited Cleveland the most down the stretch were nonsense.

 

[BrokenArrow]

The Packers have a wealth of talent. But the coaches and players don't seem to learn from mistakes. And giving credit where it's due, the Cleveland defense is v good.

By what logic do they not learn from mistakes? Have you already forgotten how bad things looked through October 2023 and how good they were after that? Seems they learned a lot. Frustration is one thing, but let's be objective here.

 

[milani]

The only good thing is it’s early season and it’s a pretty glaring defect. Didn’t he go through this with Mason? Remember when we were having similar issues in 2021 or 2022? I seem to remember this exact same issue.

And it was not really on Mason. If you watch the video the protection was horrific.

 

[Pkrjones]

Just when you think we've put our long suffering special teams problems behind us.

I am wondering why Bisaccia hasn't installed 6'-7" FitzPatrick 2yds back from the opposition's long snapper and have him rush, then jump. The ball would need to be at least 11' high to clear his outstretched hands.

 

[gopkrs]

I'm wondering why he can't be consistently good with a few splash plays

 

[Thirteen Below]

. But blocking a placekick in today's NFL should be extremely rare. Although, we botched a golden opportunity with 1st down at the 21 yard line to get into chip shot range there was no reason to get the kick COMPLETELY blocked.

Especially when the guy who blocked it is the current active NFL leader in block FGs - that was his 6th career block. If there's just one guy out of eleven that you want to be sure you're accounting for, I would think he'd be the guy. Lafleur had very little good to say about the O-line in general, but he particularly called them out on the blocked kick - he said the whole line got pantsed on that play; that their pad level sucked, and the defenders got underneath them and lifted them.